Officials embrace vision of new Navy Pier

Monorail, floating parking garage, giant water park and even bigger Ferris wheel are all in the dream stages

January 14, 2006|By Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporter

In a Navy Pier that could be just a few years away, a monorail hums down the middle of the tourist destination, then soars through a spokeless, futuristic Ferris wheel before twining in and out of roller coaster tracks and a lush indoor park.

Drivers would take a left turn over the lake and into history, parking their cars on a floating garage modeled after a vintage aircraft carrier. Children's squeals would fill an indoor, 80,000-square-foot water park, one of the largest in the world.

And a new venue would be carved out for a joy increasingly difficult to find on the giant entertainment complex--looking at the lake.

Officials of McPier, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority that oversees the lakefront attraction, embraced that vision of the future Friday, saying they will decide before the end of the year whether to move ahead with the plans. If they decide to overhaul, the work could last 3 to 7 years.

The plans could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, at least as much as the $187 million renovation that created the current pier in 1995.

Officials declined to talk about how that would be financed until a feasibility plan is conducted and decisions are made on what will actually be built. In 1995, the state financed the bulk of the renovations.

Pier officials say they could build all--or none--of the proposed amenities. The massive water park, monorail, floating parking garages and new marinas are all up for debate.

But as they made the new master plan public at the McPier meeting Friday, they sounded enthusiastic about pursuing the ideas.

"Navy Pier is a huge success story and we've built a lot of momentum," said General Manager Tim Macy. "We've got to continue to build that momentum."

Navy Pier has drawn 2 1/2 times more visitors than were estimated when the new tourist spot opened 11 years ago.

Yet it remains a boom-and-bust cycle, with 60 percent of the visitors coming during a short window in summer.

And the pier's revenues have exceeded expenses in only four of the last 10 years.

Officials hope an overhaul would generate new revenue, especially during months when visitors might otherwise turn their backs on cold lake winds.

Toronto-based Forrec Ltd., which presented its plans to McPier Friday, said Navy Pier is too cramped, and a lack of continuity inside drives people away when it's cold.

A revamped Navy Pier would welcome visitors with wide expanses, from the entryway through Pier Park, a huge indoor space with vaulted glass ceilings and greenery below, said John Plumpton, a project designer for Forrec.

"This will have some attractions and rides, but they're within a beautiful park setting," Plumpton said. "It's not going to be a whole series of amusements with some landscaping around it."

Forrec designers say new open spaces would go a long way in correcting one complaint about Chicago's Navy Pier--that Chicagoans don't go there.

The plans also call for a new 900-seat playhouse theater east of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Midway down the pier, Forrec wants to build an oval-shaped plaza that would protrude out into the lake. On the pier side of the plaza, fine dining would ring the perimeter. The lake side would give visitors a place to sit and enjoy an unobstructed view south out over the water.

Area residents who got a preview of the plans in early media reports said their two main concerns now are the same as they were in 1995--traffic, and the fear that Navy Pier could become another Coney Island.

"The initial components of Navy Pier were the Children's Museum, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Riva's restaurant, which helped to balance the, how do I say this, the amusement aspect," said Sally Park, a longtime Streeterville resident. "What has been suggested sounds very massive to me for the location. I hope they can keep some perspective."

At the meeting, William P. Tuggle, McPier's secretary and treasurer, asked Forrec if too many attractions would end up making the revamped pier look "like a bunch of junk?"

New retail, dining and open space would have the opposite effect, said Steve Rhys, Forrec's senior vice president.

"We're excited about the possibilities that that has in bringing more people from within the city for evenings and matinees and all types of performances," he said.

Plans also call for nearly twice the amount of parking. There are currently 1,700 spots, and traffic can be horrendous.

The design also gives a nod to Chicago history with a monorail that travels the length of Navy Pier along the second level, said Steve Moorhead, senior project executive with Forrec.

"If you look at the pictures of the old Navy Pier, originally the streetcars went in and out at the second level and this is kind of a reminiscent thing," he said.

The proposed Ferris wheel, which would be almost the same height as George W. Ferris' original, built for the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, will also have oversized cars like the original, holding up to 20 people each.